How to shoot full-resolution photos and videos with your HTC phone on Sense UI

The camera app interface is one of the best features of HTC Sense, as it offers the shutter buttons for pics and video on one and the same screen, and sports plethora of easy to access color effects, or shooting modes like HDR or Panorama.

Thanks partially to the dedicated HTC ImageChip, the company's phones also offer instant shot-to-shot times in Normal mode, even on low-end devices with budget processors. There are certainly a few quirks with the camera app right out of the box, however, which we would like to address. Namely these are the default settings which come with your HTC phone out of the box.

If you have an 8 MP camera on your HTC handset, for instance, the phone actually doesn't use the full resolution, but rather shoots with wide 16:9 ratio that peruses 6 MP. Moreover, the video is set to record in 960x540 qHD resolution, even if your HTC device is capable of 1080p Full HD video recording. Here's how to remedy these glaring omissions, and unleash the full potential of your HTC phone's camera.

That's how your HTC comes out of the box. Notice the 16:9 aspect ratio and the qHD video? These are your default settings, so something has to be done about it. Can you pinpoint the culprit here? The Crop setting sits at the "Wide" option at start, that's where the trouble begins.

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Since HTC doesn't disclose the actual resolution you are shooting with, but rather offers three options - Large, Medium and Small - it is easy to assume that if you are on Large, the default setting, you are shooting with the full resolution of the rear camera on your HTC phone - in this case it is 8 MP. In reality, since we have the wide aspect ratio crop set right out of the box, you are shooting with about 6 MP of detail when you fire up your camera for the first time.

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The situation with the video recording settings is no better out of the box. The phones are set to capture footage at the cringe-worthy qHD resolution, even though they are perfectly able to do it at detail-laden 1080p.

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As we said, the whole shebang stems from the Crop setting being at "Wide" by default, so if you tap on the little down arrow next to it, and then switch from Wide to the Regular aspect ratio, the photo situation will fall into place.

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As you can see, the resolution stayed at the "Large" option, but the aspect ratio is now changed to 4:3, which can immediately be seen on the phone's screen as well. It will now have two black strips on the sides of the frame, instead of filling the whole viewfinder horizontally, as it was in the widescreen fashion.

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When you tap on the Resolution option now, it will show 3264x2448 pixels, which is the actual 8 MP resolution of your rear camera, not the 3264x1840 6 MP one that is available by default.

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As for the video capture on your HTC phone, the Video Quality setting simply needs to be switched from the qHD option that is set in the factory, to Full HD 1920x1080 footage.

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Here's how your camera app menu should look like after setting it to shoot at the full photo and video resolution your HTC handset is capable of. Thankfully, the phone will remember your last settings, and these will be the modes of choice the next time you try to snap a photo, or record video. If you need to shoot in widescreen, or record lower-res footage for upload and sharing, you can always change the respective settings.

Remember also that if you choose the Reset to Default option in the camera menu, everything will go back to the initial state. The same goes for resetting your HTC handset, so you need to repeat the procedure in those cases.

That's how your HTC comes out of the box. Notice the 16:9 aspect ratio and the qHD video? These are your default settings, so something has to be done about it. Can you pinpoint the culprit here? The Crop setting sits at the "Wide" option at start, that's where the trouble begins.

1.

That's how your HTC comes out of the box. Notice the 16:9 aspect ratio and the qHD video? These are your default settings, so something has to be done about it. Can you pinpoint the culprit here? The Crop setting sits at the "Wide" option at start, that's where the trouble begins.

2.

Since HTC doesn't disclose the actual resolution you are shooting with, but rather offers three options - Large, Medium and Small - it is easy to assume that if you are on Large, the default setting, you are shooting with the full resolution of the rear camera on your HTC phone - in this case it is 8 MP. In reality, since we have the wide aspect ratio crop set right out of the box, you are shooting with about 6 MP of detail when you fire up your camera for the first time.

3.

The situation with the video recording settings is no better out of the box. The phones are set to capture footage at the cringe-worthy qHD resolution, even though they are perfectly able to do it at detail-laden 1080p.

4.

As we said, the whole shebang stems from the Crop setting being at "Wide" by default, so if you tap on the little down arrow next to it, and then switch from Wide to the Regular aspect ratio, the photo situation will fall into place.

5.

As you can see, the resolution stayed at the "Large" option, but the aspect ratio is now changed to 4:3, which can immediately be seen on the phone's screen as well. It will now have two black strips on the sides of the frame, instead of filling the whole viewfinder horizontally, as it was in the widescreen fashion.

6.

When you tap on the Resolution option now, it will show 3264x2448 pixels, which is the actual 8 MP resolution of your rear camera, not the 3264x1840 6 MP one that is available by default.

7.

As for the video capture on your HTC phone, the Video Quality setting simply needs to be switched from the qHD option that is set in the factory, to Full HD 1920x1080 footage.

8.

Here's how your camera app menu should look like after setting it to shoot at the full photo and video resolution your HTC handset is capable of. Thankfully, the phone will remember your last settings, and these will be the modes of choice the next time you try to snap a photo, or record video. If you need to shoot in widescreen, or record lower-res footage for upload and sharing, you can always change the respective settings.

Remember also that if you choose the Reset to Default option in the camera menu, everything will go back to the initial state. The same goes for resetting your HTC handset, so you need to repeat the procedure in those cases.

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